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This new History of the strategically and commercially important ‘Land of Cockaigne’, south east of Toulouse, is aimed largely at expats and tourists who have been taught little about French history. Conspiracies, cock-ups and catastrophes mark the 5000 year history of the Lauragais. It was the heartland of Catharism, and the home of Peter Paul Riquet, the pioneering genius behind its ‘Canal du Midi’, an icon of European industrialisation. The area suffered from the attention of the Vandals, the Inquisition and the Gestapo, and has lived it up on the proceeds of wheat, woad and airbuses, to the music of its troubadours.

Animals also make a contribution to proceedings, there is a canine commuter from Montauriol and a hard working donkey from Plaigne. Mischievous imps disturb the antics of their rivals, disrupt wartime supplies of bread and uncouple carriages from their engines. These lighter moments may help readers over the horrors of the thirteenth century anarchy, the truly grizzly putting down of the Cathars during the Albigensian Crusade and the Black Prince’s merciless terrorist raid. Master-Spy William of Nogaret dishonestly removes Popes and tortures Templars. Enjoy and learn from a book where Wilfrid the Hairy meets Cicero and everyone eats Cassoulet.

The Lauragais’ has been at the centre of the action in the South of France from Roman times until present day. This most superb contribution to ‘French History Books’ is meticulously detailed and highly researched, and throws much needed light on the history of the region and France in general. A book to make you cry and laugh out loud in turns.

Purchase this Book

Available now in Kindle format this French History Book is available from Amazon, you can purchase the book and be reading it in a matter of minutes. Use the links below:

Book Extracts

Below are a few short paragraphs from various chapters of the book:

“The Bosnian weaver was indeed odd: he was a pacifist in an age of violence, and his long term objective was suicide. He was a vegetarian, but ate fish in the confident belief that fish do not have sex; he was celibate in an age of love shortly to be celebrated by Troubadours; and in a world where everyone since Roman times had believed in a maximum of one God, he believed in two. This celibate, suicidal, pacifist, fish-eating, vegetarian, ‘dualist’, Bosnian weaver was, according to his enemies, addicted to secret ceremonies in which he kissed cats’ bottoms; for this reason he was called in German a ‘Kattare’ and in the Lauragais a ‘Cathar’.”

“De Montfort’s victories had serious consequences for the Lauragais: towns had been taken, commerce ruined and noble dynasties destroyed or exiled. Hundreds of dispossessed lords were wandering the roads with their families and servants. The conquerors imposed their language and their customs, installing northern Frenchmen in the Lauragais to oversee the vanquished.”

“In November 1942 the Germans occupied the Zone Nono. The young seminarists, still at Carcassonne, watched the German armoured vehicles driving in. The occupation brought oppression, exactions, and executions of hostages – and the anti-Semitic policies approved by the Vichy regime, such as the compulsory wearing of the yellow star by Jews in 1942. ”